A former Santa Clarita Valley bank employee who stole thousands of dollars from two customers, including a senior citizen, was sentenced Friday to a year in county jail and ordered to pay nearly $25,000 in restitution.
Superior Court Judge David Stuart also ordered Samuel Jose Godinez, 25, to serve three years on probation, according to Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Greenberg.
Godinez pleaded no contest Nov. 4 to two counts of grand theft of personal property and one count each of non-sufficient fund check and theft from an elder.
While he was an employee of Wells Fargo Bank, Godinez used customers’ bank information to steal the money from two people between January 2014 and April 2014, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
One of the victims was an 81-year-old woman from whom more than $16,000 was stolen, according to the prosecutor.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department launched an investigation in January 2014 after getting a call from a Newhall man who reported that his bank card number had been used to obtain more than $8,000 in goods or services.
Sheriff’s deputies were subsequently contacted last May by the other victim, who reported that more than $16,000 was taken from her checking account in April.
Detectives subsequently determined that both cases were linked to Godinez, who was fired by the bank following an internal investigation and arrested last July.
— City News Service